


you, me, and the moon

by perihelion (mattratat)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Post-Canon, and other general akechi related angst, brief references to death, ren stays in tokyo au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25536121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattratat/pseuds/perihelion
Summary: The tension fell from Goro’s frame as the scowl pulled at his mouth. He dropped the gun onto his pillow, shoving the window open.“What are you doing here,” he hiss-yelled.Ren Amamiya looked up at him, the light of the lamppost glinting off his glasses as he smiled. “Can’t sleep.”Of course it was something stupid like that. “And what in God’s name does that have to do with my window?”Ren shrugged. Amusement was written on his face, clear despite the heavy shadows of the night. “Want to go for a walk?”
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 9
Kudos: 165





	you, me, and the moon

Goro wakes with a start, feeling his heart jerk out of his chest as he bolts up in bed, clutching at the blankets so hard that his fingers ache with the effort. 

It takes him a few moments to orient himself, more than it should. If someone was here to kill him, he’d be dead by now. He was getting soft. 

_ No one is coming to kill you, _ he reminded himself, harshly,  _ They can’t be bothered _ . 

It was harsh, but it was true. No one remembered him, so no one had any reason to seek him out for revenge. It wasn’t fair, in the same way that it wasn’t fair that he kept waking up from the dead every time he took his last breath, still breathing while so many others had taken their last because of him. 

No one was coming to kill him, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to check every inch of his apartment anyways. 

His breathing was labored, but he didn’t know why. Why couldn’t he get his breath to slow down? He didn’t even remember what he’d been dreaming of that set him on edge. The engine room? Maruki’s crumbling palace? The sudden realization that everything he’d ever built- his job, his public persona, his career, his fucking  _ name _ \- had all disappeared in a matter of seconds, destroyed without a second thought by a god that had never loved him?

It was too dark to see much of anything, but he couldn’t get his hands to drop the blanket and open the curtain to let moonlight in. How was he supposed to check for intruders if he couldn’t see anything? Why weren’t his hands moving? Goddamn them, this was going to get him killed one of these days, if any of Shido’s men ever came to their senses.  _ Move, open the goddamn curtain _ so he could see something,  _ anything _ besides this pitch black darkness and 

And something hit his window. 

He tensed, the sound snapping him from his chance, his hands finally moving as he reached for the gun under his pillow. He couldn’t remember if it was loaded, but it was better than nothing. 

There was another thud as something else (a rock?) hit his window. 

Slowly, he moved to pull the curtain back, peering out the window, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light. He could make out the shape of a person standing under the lamppost, looking on the ground for something. 

The tension fell from Goro’s frame as the scowl pulled at his mouth. He dropped the gun onto his pillow, shoving the window open. 

“What are you doing here,” he hiss-yelled. 

Ren Amamiya looked up at him, the light of the lamppost glinting off his glasses as he smiled. “Can’t sleep.” 

Of course it was something stupid like that. “And what in God’s name does that have to do with my window?” 

Ren shrugged. Amusement was written on his face, clear despite the heavy shadows of the night. “Want to go for a walk?” 

It was a terrible idea. Goro wasn’t sure what time it was, but he guessed it was the early hours of the morning. Which meant that they were still under curfew, meaning that going for a walk was a terrible idea.

Well, it wasn’t like he was going to start caring about the rules now. 

“I’ll be down in a minute.” 

Ren blew him a kiss. Goro slammed the window in response.

He considered getting properly dressed, but it seemed like far too much work. His pajama pants could pass for real pants in the dark and his coat would be enough to keep him warm in the dark. He grabbed the first pair of shoes he could find, throwing them on without a second thought before making for the door. 

On his way down the stairs, he checked his phone. It was later than he thought, nearly 4. The sun would be rising in a little over an hour. He’d slept longer than he’d thought, by extension, more hours than he’d usually get over the last half year or so. 

He pocketed his phone as he pushed open the door, immediately blasted with cold air. A shiver went through him as he stepped out onto the sidewalk, pulling his coat tighter around him. 

Ren crossed the street to meet him, smiling. Goro had no idea how he could manage a smile at this awful hour of the night. 

“Hey,” Ren greeted him. 

“Hey. You could have called, you know. Rocks are little clich é. ” 

“I thought it was romantic.” 

“I think the word you’re thinking of is cheesy, actually.” 

“By the way, are you wearing slippers?” 

Goro refused to meet his eyes. 

“No,” he lied. 

Ren’s snort was loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. 

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” Goro snapped, quick to change the subject. 

“Nightmares,” Ren admitted. There was no uncertainty, no hesitation in his voice when he admitted to such a weakness. In the first few months they had been together, Goro had had a hard time wrapping his head around Ren’s easy vulnerability. It was easier, now, even if it did catch him off guard sometimes. “You?”

“You woke me up,” Goro lied again, sticking his nose in the air. Vulnerability didn’t come to him nearly as easily.

“Liar,” Ren answered cheerfully. 

Goro shoved his hands in his coat pockets, purposefully ignoring him.

Ren bumped his shoulder against Goro’s. Goro huffed at him, glancing away. 

“Tell me about your nightmares,” he said. 

His boyfriend was quiet for a moment and Goro caught him pushing his glasses up on his nose out of the corner of his eye. A strange habit, he thought, considering the glasses were fake. “It was nothing new.”

Ah, it was likely Goro, then. It wasn’t smart to press the topic; he was too tired to start a fight. “You should have gone back to bed, then.”

“Maybe,” Ren mused, “But I wanted to see you.” 

Goro fought the urge to tell him that he thought that was stupid. 

“Hey, can I hold your hand?” Ren asked. 

Goro flexed his fingers. He could still feel the panic of earlier in his throat, when they had refused to move for him. “Not right now.” 

Out of the corner of Goro’s eye, he could see Ren’s fall, but he nodded. Goro, newly acquainted with guilt, pretended not to notice for both their sakes. 

Instead, he asked, “Where are we going?” 

Ren hummed for a moment, answering, “I was thinking Inokashira Park. Unless you have any other ideas?” 

He didn’t. 

Silence came to them both naturally and thankfully Goro didn’t live far from the park. It was one of the reasons he’d picked this apartment. Truthfully, he missed the old one, but being dead had the unfortunate consequence of his landlord renting it to someone else in his absence. 

It was a short walk, the cold air waking Goro up more and more with each step. Occasionally, one of them would comment on the scenery, or something that had happened the day before, useless small talk. Small talk that would have driven him mad, had it been with anyone else. 

Sometimes, he wondered if they were still in Maruki’s ending. He wondered if somehow, Maruki had only tricked them into thinking they had defeated him and that any moment now he would snap his fingers and Goro would go back to being dead in a ditch somewhere. 

But, if that were true, it probably wouldn’t be freezing out. He couldn’t imagine a perfect reality where his teeth were still chattering from the cold. 

They reached the park with relative fuss. 

Over the summer, someone had installed a swinging bench along the river. Ren made a beeline for it, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Goro was following. 

It felt childish, sitting in the dark and swinging like this. Part of him felt like he should get back to his apartment, get started on his work for the day, throw himself into next weeks assignments lest he get thrown out of college. 

Sometimes it was hard to forget that those sorts of things weren’t a matter of life and death. 

He took a deep breath, turning to face Ren. 

Ren, who was silhouetted by moonlight, his hair lit like a halo. It suited him, truly, to look so angelic, so perfect under the moonlight. It was cold, even for October, and it was fogging his glasses up. 

“Why do you keep wearing those?” Goro asked, reaching over and taking them from Ren gingerly. He was tempted to snap them between his fingers, to crush the fake glass with his own hands. Maybe he’d crush the shattered fragments under his foot for good measure. 

Ren shrugged. “No one else knows they’re fake. Why stop now?” 

“Because you don’t need to hide behind them anymore,” Goro snapped. 

Ren reached over, peeling Goro’s fingers away from the stupid lenses. He hadn’t even realized that he’d been gripping them so tightly. Ren took them from him, placing them on the bench beside himself rather than put them back on. Goro was thankful for it. 

“Why do you still have your briefcase?” Ren asked. 

Goro opened his mouth to answer, but found that he had no words to say. He could snap and point out that that wasn’t any of Ren’s business or he could make up some frivolous lie about the cost. But really, he didn’t know why he kept it. 

He supposed that was the point. 

He closed his mouth. 

He really should throw the briefcase away. He hated it, hated everything it stood for. But it was still tucked away in the hall closet, a constant reminder of his failures and everything he was  _ before _ . 

That Goro Akechi was dead. He’d died first in the engine room of Shido’s palace, then again after defeating Maruki. He was dead in every way that mattered, to Goro and to the rest of the world, but… 

But he’d still existed, even if no one knew. Everything he’d been, every terrible thing he’d done. They still happened. 

He could never forget that. 

He didn’t think that that had much to do with Ren’s glasses, but… he understood the sentiment. 

Suddenly, there was a weight on his shoulder and he tensed before realizing that it was Ren, resting his head on his shoulder. 

“Getting cozy?” Goro asked. 

“Mhm. You’re warm,” Ren answered, as if he wasn’t the one who insisted on dragging Goro out into the cold in the first place. 

“You’d be warmer if you’d stayed inside.” 

He didn’t have to see Ren’s face to know that he was pouting. “And pass up the opportunity to bother you? Never.” 

“You’re never bothering me,” Goro muttered. 

Ren pressed closer against his side. “Oh? Is that right?” 

“I didn’t say anything.” 

“Sure you didn’t.”

Goro had nothing mature to say to that, so he kept his mouth shut.

After a brief moment of silence, Ren asked, “Hey, can we stay to watch the sunrise?” 

Ren rarely asked for anything. He was disgustingly selfish like that; always putting his friends wants and needs first, never asking for a thing in return. Goro wondered if he’d always been like this, or if it was an affect of coming to Tokyo. 

Either way, Goro could rarely say no to him. He laid his head on top of Ren’s. He held out his hand, thankful for the warmth when Ren took it. “Sure.” 

He had a feeling it would be a beautiful sunrise. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank u so much for reading!!!!!!!!!! got hit w a truckload of feelings last night and now here we are,,, 
> 
> pls kudos and comment if u enjoyed!!! it means a lot to me!!!<3
> 
> have a great day!!


End file.
